April 1
It was still quite windy today. Mid-morning, Alternate Latitude dropped their mooring and headed for the BVI. We waved goodbye as they passed us. We will probably get together again in a week on the end of their trip.
In the afternoon, we heard one of the four mega-yachts anchored in the bay on the radio hailing the Park Service. We never heard their conversation, but later, a Park Service boat was cruising around the anchorage. The first thing he did was talk to a guy in a dinghy who was inside the "No Boats" buoys near the beach. Then he went to one of the mega-yachts, who was anchored way to close to the moored boats. Big boats are supposed to anchor at least 200 feet behind the furthest out moorings. This guy is right up in the mooring field, where if the wind changes direction and he swings, he could take out a moored boat. The same mega-yacht earlier had a jet ski in the water racing around, which is a no-no in the park waters.
Our friends Devi & Hunter on Arctic Tern came in late in the afternoon, but they have guests aboard so we didn't bother them. We have passed a couple times this season but not gotten together.
Back in December in Antigua, we purchased all the stuff we needed to fix Christmas dinner. We had actually brought Pepperidge Farms stuffing with us from home, and we got a small Butterball turkey roast. But, at Christmas, Angie at Al Porto had put on a traditional Christmas dinner that we attended instead. So, we have been carrying the turkey in the freezer for several months. So, we used Easter as an excuse to make a big dinner. I sliced and diced celery, onions, and mushrooms, cooked bacon and sausage, and made the Mooney family dressing. Barb cooked the turkey, and Lynn made some potatoes and green beans. We carried the finished turkey and dressing to Seabbatical where we had a mid-afternoon dinner. Even though it was three months late, Christmas dinner was good.
During the afternoon, Gary & Laura and their guests came in on Lucille. They invited us over for happy hour drinks, so we had happy hour there after dinner.
GPS N 18-21.926 W 064-44.908 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10387.
April 2
We had a lazy morning, and then spent a few hours at the beach in the afternoon. Maho Beach was packed when we got there. There is a designated channel for dinghies to use to get to the beach, but the average swimmer/snorkeler doesn't have a clue what those marker mean. So, as we approached, I had to stop and wait for a snorkeler to pass across the channel. Once we were at the beach, we had trouble finding enough space to drag the dinghies up on the beach. We got several looks from people who didn't seem to understand that the area we were in was designated for dinghies, but we got them up out of the water regardless. While we were enjoying the water, Jim & Connie from Plane to Sea came walking down the beach. We had not seen them come in to the mooring field, but they had seen us dinghy in, so they walked down to chat.
Back at the boat in the evening, Barb made us Jambalaya for dinner.
GPS N 18-21.926 W 064-44.908 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10387.
April 3
We are going to join Mike & Lynn in Cruz Bay again today. Last week, I called a taxi who picked us up at Maho Beach with no problem. So, today, I called the number for a taxi. The guy who answered this time was not nearly as cooperative. He was worried that he'd be sending a guy all the way out there, and we would just take the first one that came by and not wait for the one dispatched for us. I was starting to get pissed at him and he finally said he would send one. I gave him my phone number and told him to call me back with the taxi number so we were sure to get the right one. He said he would, but never did. At 13:30, we were on the road waiting, but there was no taxi. I also found that my phone didn't have service there, so I couldn't call to make sure they were on the way. Several of the maxi-taxis came by, but they were all full of cruise ship people. Finally at 13:45 an empty taxi came down the road. He said he was ours, so we got in. At that point we didn't care if he was the right one or not.
We got Cruz Bay and Mike & Lynn headed for the grocery store, while Barb & I went to Woody's. Woody's has recently been sold. We are not sure if the guys we see running the place are the new owners or the old ones, but we have been assured that nothing will be changing. After about forty-five minutes, Mike & Lynn returned from their shopping. We moved to a table for four and ordered lunch. After we ate, I decided that even though the last thing I need is another t-shirt, I would buy one. They have lots of different ones to choose from, so I picked one and asked the waitress for it. She came back and reported they did not have that one in my size. So I picked another one. She came back embarrassed and said they didn't have that one either. Maybe I'm not supposed to get a new shirt? They had my third choice.
About 17:30 we got a taxi back to Maho. We wanted to get back to the boats before dark. On our way in to the beach earlier, we had stopped by the pay station and paid for our mooring. The moorings here are administered by the National Park Service. Paying is on the honor system. There is a little raft moored mid-way between the moorings at Francis Bay and the ones at Maho Bay where you get an envelope that you fill out and put the money in. You then drop the envelope in a secure slot in a heavy metal box. We have read that only 60% of the boats that use the moorings actually pay the fee. That pisses me off, especially since the vast majority of the boats here are cruisers, not charter boats. I would have hoped our fellow cruisers had more integrity than that.
GPS N 18-21.926 W 064-44.908 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10387.
April 4
We plan to leave Francis Bay today and go to the marina at Red Hook on St. Thomas. What is significant about this is that we will be parting ways with Seabbatical. They will be heading south again soon with a plan to haul out in mid-May in Antigua. That was our original plan also, but we have changed our plans and are now going to haul out in the BVI at Nanny Cay. We are moving to the marina today for several reasons. We are within a day or two of running out of water, I need to be at a dock to fix our wind generator and the belt on the engine alternator, and I need a good internet connection for a couple weeks to do some online training. The weather is supposed to deteriorate over the next two days, and I don't want to be in a position where we are out of water and need to move when the weather sucks. Thus the decision to go this afternoon.
We spent a quiet morning aboard getting things ready to move. Late in the morning Mike & Lynn came over for a visit. They will probably head back to the BVI and then on south in a day or two, so this is probably the last we will see them this season. They left about noon and we dropped our mooring and headed west. Red Hook is on the eastern end of St. Thomas about six miles west of where we are in Francis Bay. It is home to American Yacht Harbor which is an IGY marina. IGY is a large company that owns marinas all over the world. We motored the six miles without incident. As we entered the harbor I hailed the marina on the radio. I had called on the phone yesterday and made a reservation, so I already knew what slip we were going to, but I didn't know which side of the dock it was on. The girl in the office told me which side of the dock we were on, and which side of the boat the finger pier was on so we could get lines ready. As we approached, I saw a dockhand on the dock waving to us. I want to back into the slip so that the wind generator is over the dock, so as we passed the end of the t-head of C dock, I put the boat in reverse. MoonSail backs up wonderfully, but the trick is to get it going backwards gently until the rudder gets control again. We started to slowly backup and I turned us into the fairway. The slip we are going to is more than halfway down the fairway, and the slip next to it has a 56 foot powerboat in it. The slips are less than 50 feet long, so the bow of this powerboat is sticking out past the end and blocking my view of where I am aiming for. I can see the dockhand's head, but not the finger pier at all. My concern is getting too close to that nice big anchor on the bow of the big powerboat. There is nothing in the next slip over. Because of my caution regarding the powerboat, I start my turn into the slip too late. I realize I'm not going to make it and have to put the boat in forward again. The trick to backing a boat up is to do it in one graceful move. When you start going back and forth is when things usually go downhill fast. I went forward just a bit and then put it in reverse again. I really didn't expect this to work and I was prepared to bail out and start all over again, but to my surprise, we started backing up and turning just enough to make the slip. Barb was on the stern waiting to throw a line to the dockhand, and she was saying the dinghy was going to hit the piling, but I was confident we would make it and kept going. The dinghy cleared with at least an inch to spare and we went right in the slip. I even impressed myself with this one.
We were just barely tied up when a guy came up and introduced himself. He said it was good to see another Texas flag flying. His name was Craig and his boat name was Lone Star. We told him that we know two other Lone Stars, and one of them lives here. He told us that when they were back in Kemah, they had a different boat and it was named Seabatical. We had to laugh at that even though his spelling of Seabbatical was slightly different than Mike & Lynn's.
Our first order of business after checking in with the office was to get the power hooked up. The plugs on the dock are 50amp plugs, and we have 30amp cords, so I needed our adapter. We haven't used the adapter in so long that I forgot where it was. When I remembered and got it from the aft deck locker, I found the connections looked pretty corroded. I took a wire brush and cleaned up the male end, but there isn't much I can do for the female end. I plugged it in and got nothing. While Barb watched the lights on the panel in the boat, I wiggles the connection. The power would come and go and I could hear sizzling in the plug, so I decided it was time for a new end on the adapter. I have spare ends, so this should be no problem. I got out my tools and sat in the cockpit to do the job. The first order of business was to cut off the old end. The original end is a big molded rubber thing. I was using a razor utility knife in my right hand to cut the rubber while holding the plug with my left hand. You can probably see where this is going right? One slip of the razor knife and I had put a very deep cut in the end of my middle finger on my left hand. Barb was below and heard whatever expletive I said when it happened. Knowing I was using the razor knife, she immediately knew what happened. I grabbed a towel and squeezed the cut to stop the bleeding. I wasn't sure how bad it was, so I peeked at it and when I released the pressure lots of blood flowed. Barb gave me clean paper towels instead of the dirty rag I was using. I checked again after a minute and decided I probably needed stitches. Fortunately, we knew from our last visit that there is a medical clinic across the street from the marina. As long as I kept pressure on the cut I wasn't making a mess, so we didn't create a scene as we walked over to the clinic. We went in and told them the problem. They had Barb fill out the paperwork while I went into an exam room. Within about fifteen minutes, a doctor was in preparing to stitch me up. So far, there had been little pain, and remarkably little blood loss. Of course to do stitches, they had to numb my finger. That was the hard part. The needle she had to stick in three places around my knuckle hurt like hell. Once that ordeal was over, the finger quickly numbed. Three stitches were applied and a big ole fat bandage was applied. I was also given a tetanus shot since I'm pretty sure I haven't had one in the past ten years. Little did I know that the worst pain was yet to come. We went to check out and I was presented with the bill. Even though we have insurance, and we are sort of in the US, we have to pay up front and then file with the insurance company. The bill was $850! Not wanting to need treatment for a heart attack also, I remained calm. We paid the bill and went back to the boat. About half an hour later my phone rang. It was the clinic saying they had made a mistake. The bill should only have been $793. Well, fifty bucks is fifty bucks, so I went back across the street so they could fix the charge. We'll see what Blue Cross says about this. I'm guessing it will be a jump start on fulfilling my large deductible.
Needless to say, I was not allowed to play with the razor knife anymore today. I went to the marina office and rented one of their adapters so we could get plugged in. Once we were sure we were charging, we went up to Molly Malone's for a meal and some medicinal rum. We've been to Molly's many time before and it's a good Irish pub in the Islands. We had a good meal and a few drinks before returning to the boat.
Just for fun some day, wrap any finger real fat with a bandage and see how hard it is to do pretty much anything. I don't care if it's on your "primary" hand or not, or if it's what you would call an "important" finger. Turns out you count on all of them, and when one isn't usable, and it gets in the way, it's a challenge.
GPS N 18-19.487 W 064-51.116 Nautical miles traveled today 6 Total miles 10393.
April 5
As I said earlier, American Yacht Harbor is an IGY marina. Most marinas which have been purchased by IGY benefit from the resources of the large company and they are kept up nicely. For whatever reason, that doesn't seem to be the case here. When we stayed here in 2007, they had just completed a renovation of the bathroom facilities. At the time, they were very nice, consisting of four complete stand-alone bathrooms with sink, toilet and shower. For a marina it was a nice setup, even if it was a bit out of the way from the dock. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they have done anything else to the marina since then. The bathrooms are showing their age, and the rough terracotta floors are filthy even though they run a mop over them daily. The bathrooms could use a good power washing and then a sealant on the floors to get rid of the nooks and crannies that hold the dirt. The docks are fixed wooden docks, and other than the occasional board replacement, they haven't changed either. An old friend of ours back in Texas worked here twenty years ago, and I bet she would recognize everything as the same. I will give them credit where due - most of the slips have finger piers so there is no stern-to anchor dropping maneuvers to be done when you dock here.
There is a laundromat here at the marina, although it is open to the public and not really part of the marina facilities. We have not seen a do-it-yourself laundromat since we returned to the boat in 2011. All we have had access to were full-service places where they wash, dry, and fold for a per-pound rate. Here there is a laundromat in the marina where they will do it, or you can do it yourself. So, instead of taking several weeks worth of dirty laundry up all at once, Barb is going to do a load a day to get us caught up. She did the first load this morning before the laundromat got too busy, or too hot.
At lunchtime we wandered out to see what other options there were outside the immediate marina property. We found Big Bambooz at the other end of the marina. It looked like just our kind of place, with a cool tiki hut look and feel. Our waiter was a cool guy, although he sounded like he just stepped off the streets of New York. I had fish & chips which was pretty good, and Barb had a burger based on the waiter's claim that they had the best burger on the island. Her burger was ok, but not outstanding.
After lunch, we walked across the street to Marina Market. Marina Market was a small but well stocked grocery last time we were here. We were dismayed to find that it has closed! I was hoping maybe they just moved somewhere nearby, but we went in the pharmacy down the street a bit and inquired, and they told me they had just closed. We learned later from our friends here in the food distribution business, that a new owner is trying to close a deal soon and hopefully it will reopen. The next closest grocery is not walking distance, so we'll have to either rent a car or use the maxi-taxis when we need groceries. For now, we only needed a couple of non-urgent things, so it's not a big deal. In 2007 we had visited a bar by the grocery called The Poor Man's Bar, where you poured your own drinks as strong as you liked them. Alas, it too is gone. There is still a bar in the location, but it's not the same place.
We went back to the boat where Barb busied herself drawing the registration numbers on our dinghy. In the States, a powered boat, even a little dinghy, has to be registered. The registration number and sticker have to be displayed on both side of the bow of the boat. Our numbers had been applied with stencils and a Sharpie permanent marker. Well, it turns out that permanent is apparently a relative term when exposed to the sunlight all the time. Our numbers disappeared years ago. Fortunately though, no other island cares about the numbers being displayed. But, now that we are back in US waters, we are subject to a possible Coast Guard inspection, so the numbers need to be put on again. Back when the dinghy was new, I cared about what it looked like, and very carefully used stencils to make professional looking markings. Now that the dinghy is ten years old and trashy looking, I really don't care how good the numbers look. If you caught the light just right, you could barely see the outline of where the old numbers were on the tubes. So Barb outlined them free-hand based on the shadows of the old ones, and then colored them in with a Sharpie again. The don't look like they were put on with a stencil, but they look a lot better than they would have if I had done it.
The four slips between us and the head of the dock are rented by a powerboat rental company called Magic Moments. They have a bunch of twenty to thirty foot runabouts that you rent and drive yourself, and they have several forty-five to fifty-five foot cabin cruisers that they take you out on for a day trip with a captain and mate. Each of the big boats is owned by an individual, who then lets Magic Moments manage it when they aren't using it themselves. The largest of these powerboats is a Sunseeker San Remo 53. This boat is new to their fleet, and the owner has had it out by himself, with no professional captain, for a week. He brought it back this afternoon and dropped it off. The guys from Magic Moments were very animated about their feeling about this owner after he left. Apparently, the inside of the boat was just trashed, including spilled things and stained upholstery. On the outside, he had managed to hit another boat somewhere and did some cosmetic damage to the side of the boat. The Magic Moments guys were saying he should never had been allowed off the dock without a captain because he didn't have a clue what he was doing. When the dust settled, and the only person left was a local guy who was supposed to clean the boat, he looked over at me and said, "These rich people are slobs." We found it all pretty amusing, until after dark, when everybody was gone, we realized they had left all the outside cockpit lights on. So the cockpit and the dock and our boat were all lit up bright. We had to close our curtains to cut the light to a point where it wasn't keeping us awake.
GPS N 18-19.487 W 064-51.116 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10393.
April 6
Happy Birthday to my brother Bob! I gave him a phone call since we are in US cell service. He was busy as usual with several projects around the house going at once, and wasn't slowing down just because it was his birthday.
This morning's project is to defrost the freezer and fridge. Defrosting the freezer consists of putting the contents in an insulated bag, and then pouring hot water into the box, melting the frost. When it's all melted, I open the floorboard battery access cover and dump the water into the bilge. This whole process takes only a few minutes at which point the freezer is back on and cooling. The fridge is not much harder. The side with the cold plate is where we keep mostly beverages, so there is no worry about things getting warm while defrosting. I removed everything from that side of the fridge, and then using the galley sink sprayer, which is barely long enough, I spray hot water on the frost until it is all gone. The fridge box has a foot pump that then allows us to pump the water out. Both projects took about ten minutes total. Once that was done, Barb went off to do another load of laundry while I stayed on the boat. I wasn't feeling well, but couldn't really put my finger on what was wrong. After a while I went and lay down. When I closed my eyes, I realized that I was dizzy. I couldn't really put my finger on that earlier, but that was part of the problem. After being in bed a few minutes, I remembered that I had not put the frozen stuff back in the freezer from the cold bag. So I got up to do that, and in just the few minutes I was standing, I was very dizzy and thought I was going to throw up. It was like I was seasick. I quickly got the stuff in the freezer and got back on the bed which relieved the nausea. I fell asleep for about and hour and when I awoke I felt better. I also felt hungry. We went over to Molly Malone's where I had a salad and no beer. I wanted to see how that settled. As the afternoon progressed, I felt ok again. I thought about it and realized that I hadn't felt quite right yesterday either. All I could think of was maybe this was a reaction to the tetanus shot, but I looked it up and none of how I felt was listed as a possible side effect. Oh well. AT least I feel ok now.
We had plans this evening to have dinner with our friends Floyd & Jennifer who have lived here about eleven years now. They were old dock neighbors in Texas, until the demise of Enron sent them looking for jobs. They found a new life here and now own a business. They picked us up at 18:00 and took us about as far across the island as you can go to Hull Bay. Hull Bay is on the northwest corner of St. Thomas and is known as a surfer's beach. There is a small bar and restaurant there called the Hull Beach Hideaway, where we met other friends of Floyd & Jennifer's, Craig & Cathy. Craig is an eye doctor here, and Cathy is a teacher. They have been living here for many, many years. We enjoyed visiting with them and had a nice meal. The special tonight was all-you-can-eat peel-and-eat shrimp. I was very tempted to get that, but thought my fat bandaged finger might be a hindrance to peeling the shrimp. I went for fish and chips instead. We enjoyed ourselves, and Floyd & Jennifer took us home about 21:00.
GPS N 18-19.487 W 064-51.116 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10393.
April 7
This morning we had breakfast at Molly Malone's. Even though it is an Irish Pub, they are open for three meals a day. Their breakfast is well known around here, and on weekends it is served until 14:00. One of the reasons their breakfast is well known is that they offer bottomless Bloody Mary's and mimosas. I had a shrimp omelet and Barb had Eggs Benedict. Of course we both had bottomless mimosas too. While we were there, I inquired if we would be able to get one of the TV's on FOX later in the afternoon to watch NASCAR. Sharme the bartender assured me we could.
About 13:00, I went back up to Molly Malone's to watch the race. As soon as I sat at the bar, Sharme went to the closet where all the TV controls are and switched the channel. There were several other guys there to watch also, so I didn't feel like I was imposing. The guy who owns and/or manages the place is very into golf. He always has the golf channel on one of the larger TV's. But, he wasn't there at the moment, and one of the other guys switch the golf TV to baseball. So we had the New York Yankees on one big TV and NASCAR on the other. A bit later, I saw the manager guy come in. He immediately went to the TV control closet. I thought either the baseball or NASCAR was going away, but to his credit, he realized we were watching and he put the golf on one of the smaller TV's on the side of the room where he could see it. I later introduced myself to Frankie, and told him I appreciated that he was aware of what his customers wanted to watch. I told him that had not always been our experience in the Caribbean.
While I was watching the race, a young guy came and sat next to me. He was very talkative, and seemed very knowledgeable about NASCAR. Turns out he used to be an aerodynamics engineer for Hendrick Motorsports, one of the huge NASCAR teams. His career was cut short due to a bad motorcycle accident resulting in a severe back injury. He now is very sensitive to any cool weather, so he moved here and is now a chef. Quite a career change, but he seemed quite happy.
After the race was over, I went back to the boat and we had leftovers for dinner. The bright lights were still on aboard the boat next door, and a couple of the Magic Moments employees were still around. I went up the dock and asked if it would be possible to turn the lights off, or maybe turn some of them off, or dim them. The guy said he would check. He came back a bit later and said "the owner" wanted them on for security. Jerk. (The owner, not the Magic Moments guy.)
GPS N 18-19.487 W 064-51.116 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10393.
April 8
This morning I went to rent a car. There is a Budget sign on one of the businesses at the end of the marina complex. I found that the store with the sign is a fishing store, but they call Budget at Sapphire Bay Resort for you to arrange it. Budget said they could pick me up in ten minutes, so I went outside to wait. Sapphire Bay Resort is less than a mile down the road from Red Hook. A young lady picked me up and we drove back to the resort. The Budget desk and a tour desk are in what used to be the main front-desk area of the resort. The check-in desk has apparently been moved, so all that is in this large lobby area now is the desk for Budget and the lady selling and arranging tours for the resort guests. While I was waiting for the Budget girl to do my paperwork, I was hearing the tour lady sell a couple on a tour. When they gave her their name to book it, I heard them say Mooney. I went over an introduced myself and explained why. Dan Mooney appeared to be roughly my age and was from Boston. We chatted a bit and he told me that his daughter and sister had done lots of genealogy work on the family and traced it back to Ireland in the 1500's. I have no knowledge of my Mooney family past the mid 1800's, but we may be related from way back when.
Once I had the car, I picked up Barb at the marina and we went to run errands. Our first stop is the NAPA Auto Parts store in Charlotte Amalie. I need to get an alternator belt. The spare belts I bought in St. Maarten are a tiny bit longer than the one on the alternator, even though they are they same part number. There is not enough adjustment available to compensate for this. So, I got the next size shorter belt to give it a try.
Since we were in town, we decided to go all American for lunch and go to Hooters. Sometimes a good, predictable, chain restaurant experience is what you need when you are traveling. I had my taste buds set on some Buffalo shrimp, but sadly they were out of shrimp. So, I had a buffalo chicken sandwich instead. Barb had boneless wings. My sandwich was ok, although they forgot to toss it in the hot sauce before serving it, so I had to add some myself, and Barb's boneless wings were overcooked so they were pretty tough. It was definitely not as good as any store we have been to in they US.
We then went on a grocery store tour. We started at Cost-U-Less, which is a warehouse type store like a Costco, but without a membership requirement. While we don't need large quantities of anything, much of their stuff is available in normal sized individual packages as well. The rum in particular was only $12 for a 1.5l bottle. From Cost-U-Less we went to K-Mart at Tutu Plaza. I thought K-Mart used to have a lot more groceries, but now they only have a very tiny section. At the other end of the plaza, we hit Plaza Extra. While the store looks run down compared to what I remember ten years ago, they had a good selection and we got the rest of what we needed.
We dropped the groceries at the boat, and then went back to Charlotte Amalie to meet Walter & Beverly. They are on the last night of their charter and have taken a slip at Yacht Haven Grand, the mega yacht marina right in Charlotte Amalie Harbor. We had a couple of beverages aboard and then went up to the Fat Turtle where we were just in time to get their happy hour deal of three tacos for $3. We ate there and then went back to Alternate Latitude for a nightcap. As we left the parking lot of the marina, I made my first drive-on-the-left faux pas. I was turning right out of the parking lot onto a divided street with two lanes going each way. I turned out into the left lane, but it was the left lane of the two coming my way! I didn't go past the median before turning. Luckily there was a break in the median just a little ways down the street where I scooted over to the correct side. I could blame the rum, but I'm afraid I would have made this mistake in the dark regardless.
When we got back to the marina, we found that the big power boat next door had some type of alarm going off. It was an electronic beep every minute or so. I stood by the boat and listened and determined it was coming from inside. There was no evidence of smoke, or sinking, but it will be quite annoying to try and sleep with it beeping. I went up to the Security office and knocked on the door. It took two knocks to get the two guys to open the door. When I told them there was an alarm going off on a boat, they looked at me like they wondered what I wanted them to do. I suggested they call the owners. They walked down the dock with me and said there was nothing they could do. They claimed to not know any number for anybody at Magic Moments except the one on their sign, and of course at night it goes to an answering machine. I was pretty short with them and asked "What if it was on fire? Would you call them then?" They said they would call the fire department because that was their job. I went back to MoonSail very frustrated. A few minutes later, the once-a-minute beep was joined by a second alarm that was a steady high pitched sound like a smoke detector. I took matters into my own hands and got my phone and went up to the Magic Moments kiosk to get their number. I called and left a message on the voice mail. I then hung up and called back. And called back. And called back. My logic was that if the phone was at somebody's house, the call after call would tell them something was wrong. Sure enough, on the fifth or sixth call, Joe answered. I recognized his voice as one of the guys we see every day on the dock. I told him there were alarms going off, and he said he would be here in ten minutes. I went back to MoonSail to wait. When Joe showed up, he apologized and went aboard the boat. He silenced one alarm pretty quick, but the original beeping one continued. He finally got it to stop. He explained again, that this boat was new to them and they were still figuring it out. He was pretty sure he had it resolved and apologized again.
GPS N 18-19.487 W 064-51.116 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10393.
April 9
I returned the car to Sapphire Bay this morning, and the Budget shuttle brought me back to the marina. When I got back, Magic Moments Joe was on the dock and apologized again. I told him that the alarm had stayed off the rest of the night, but that those bright lights were still annoying. It had not been Joe who we originally asked about the lights, and I told him the owner had indicated he wanted them left on. I think he was feeling a little guilty about last night, as he told me the lights would be off tonight.
I went to work installing the new alternator belt. I was just barely able to get it over the pulleys, but then it tightened up nicely. This one is tighter than the old ones ever were. Barb started the motor, but since we are plugged in to shore power, the batteries are fully charged and there is no load on the alternator. So, we unplugged the shore power and turned on everything we could on the boat. We ran some hot water so the water heater would run off the inverter. After a couple hours, we were down 100 amp hours. Plenty low to exercise the alternator. Barb fired up the engine as I watched the monitor. We got up to 90 amps with nary a peep out of the belt. Hopefully that will take care of that problem.
One of the reasons for coming to the marina was to have good internet so I could do some online training in preparation for getting work this summer. So, today I started that training.
After several hours of learning new stuff, it was happy hour time. We went to the Island Time Pub, had a couple of drinks, and then decided to order a pizza there for dinner. We had heard their pizza was very good, and we weren't disappointed. We got the large, so that we would have some left to take home.
GPS N 18-19.487 W 064-51.116 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10393.
April 10
It was a short day on excitement today, as it was all spent training. We had our left over pizza for lunch, and then went to Molly Malone's for happy hour. We learned that Sharme, one of the bartenders is leaving the island soon. She has been here a number of years, and loves it here, but wants to get back to the mainland. It's funny how some people like it forever, and some are ready to get off the island within a year. It usually has nothing to do with disliking the island per se, it is just that they find an island limiting.
GPS N 18-19.487 W 064-51.116 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10393.
April 11
The morning was spent finishing up the training. After lunch, I tackled taking the wind generator down and apart. I got it off the pole it mounts on without incident and brought it in the cockpit to disassemble. The disassembly process consists of removing four long shinny bolts that hold the front cover on. They came out fine and the front cover came off. I found that the front bearing seemed fine. No noise and no resistance in spinning. To get to the rear bearing you have to remove the entire guts, a.k.a. the stator and rotor from the housing. This put up a bit of a fight, but after persisting tapping on the housing with a rubber mallet as per the instructions, it all popped out. To my surprise there were some loose pieces inside the housing. The four long bolts screw into nuts that are cast into the plastic housing. Two of these nuts had broken out of the housing, and the other two were cracked. So the nuts and a few chunks of the plastic were loose inside. The rear bearing also seemed fine, so I think these pieces were interfering with the rotation, and the bearings are fine. I took pictures of the damage and sent an e-mail off to Hotwire for their opinion and advice.
We went up to Island Time Pub again for happy hour. We have noticed that if you get regular mixed drinks at happy hour, they come in throw-away plastic cups. But if you get Painkillers, they come in a nice reusable plastic cup that you keep. We could use a few new plastic cups, so we had Painkillers tonight. We made it a short happy hour, and Barb made dinner aboard. It is way to easy to eat out all the time when you're on a dock surrounded by at least a dozen places to eat and drink.
GPS N 18-19.487 W 064-51.116 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10393.
April 12
We had a lazy morning aboard this morning. It occurred to me that I probably won't hear back from Hotwire regarding the wind generator until next week, because they are a husband/wife company and they are probably at the Pacific Strictly Sail boat show this weekend.
At 13:00, we got on the ferry to St. John. Mike & Lynn are going to meet us for a late lunch at Woody's. The ferry is a good sized boat with an enclosed main deck and an open upper deck. We went to the upper deck and sat in the first row of seats, which is about mid-way the length of the boat behind the bridge. We noticed that all the local, regular users of the ferry sat below. By the time we left, the upper deck was pretty full, but it seemed to be all tourists. Once we cleared the calm waters of the ferry dock we understood why. There is a pretty good swell coming through the channel between St. Thomas and St. John. Three times, the boat lifted up on the swell and slammed into the next wave causing a huge spray as high as the upper deck off to the side. This wouldn't have been a problem except for the wind which blew it back on deck. We were soaked by the three waves that did this. We should have known there was a reason the locals didn't sit up here.
We were in Cruz Bay before Mike & Lynn, so we stopped at JJ's Texas Coast Cafe which is right by the ferry dock. It has been here as long as we have been coming here, but we had never stopped in. I have since looked at Trip Advisor and found they have lots of negative comments about their service and food. We were just having a beer at the bar and it was ok. Although I must say I didn't see anything to make me feel like I was in Texas about the place. We hadn't seen Mike & Lynn yet, so we decided to just go around to Woody's as we know they will get there. They had just arrived before we did and we joined them. We ordered our lunch and enjoyed their happy hour priced drinks. We noticed that looking across the street at the Iguana Grill, all the wait staff over there had Woody's t-shirts on. Then we saw that one of the guys working over there had been waiting on us at Woody's last week. Then we saw the kitchen guy running food across the street. Then we noticed that the happy hour sign at Iguana now was the same deal as Woody's (which it wasn't before). Apparently, the new owners of Woody's are also the new owners of Iguana Grill.
About 17:15, Mike & Lynn got on the shuttle back to Maho Bay, and we walked over to the ferry dock. The ferry doesn't leave until 18:00, so I decided to go to the bar next door and get another drink. As I walked towards the bar, I had to pass the Bones Rum shop. Bones rum is apparently produced locally and the shop sells t-shirts and stuff with their logo. They also have free tastings, and a pour-your-own bar. That got my attention, and I went in there instead of the bar next door. The deal with the pour-your-own is that they have about eight frozen drink machines, like at Fat Tuesday's, and they pour you a cup of your choice about an inch shy of the top. You then add rum to your taste. They are each $8, so it really isn't that good a deal, but the idea is cool. And the drink was good. When I walked in the place, there was a family from Massachusetts already there. They were having a conversation with the bartender about greeting people and how in the States, if you say hi to everybody, people think you are weird. But in the Islands, if you don't say hi to everybody, people think you are rude. I joined the conversation and agreed with what they were saying. That brought us around to our travels and of course they thought the cruising lifestyle sounded neat.
We had a nice dry ferry ride home, even though we once again sat outside on top. This was due to the fact that now we were going with the seas and not bashing into them, and we were on the downwind side just in case.
GPS N 18-19.487 W 064-51.116 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10393.
April 13
We had another lazy morning. I spent some time today trying to catch up on writing my log, as well as writing another short article for www.TropRockin.com. In between my writing, we went up to Molly Malone's for lunch.
In the evening, we went up to Island Time Pub, had a couple of happy hour drinks, and got a pizza to take home with us for dinner. Later, we were sitting in the cockpit, having just finished eating, when we saw some people coming down the dock. I didn't recognize them until Clyde yelled "MoonSail"! Clyde & Lynda are people we met in the Bahamas in 2006. After we met them, they continued south on their cruise around the Caribbean, and we came back to the States. They were gracious enough to let us use their dock and condo in St. Augustine for a month when we first got back to the States. They have since moved to St. Thomas. We had been in contact a couple weeks ago, and knew that Clyde had been back in the States, but was returning this weekend. We didn't know that he was going to get off the plane, pick up Lynda, and immediately come find us. Our Texas flag gave us away in the marina, although there was another Texas boat here and they went to that one first. They had a friend, Sue, with them. Sue had been a sailing student of Clyde's a few years ago when he spent some time down here teaching sailing. We visited a bit aboard MoonSail and then all piled in their SUV and went over to Latitude 18, a bar on the other side of the water from the marina. It would be about a two minute dinghy ride, or a ten minute car ride, but we don't have the dinghy in the water. At Latitude 18 we saw a local band called FlipSwitch. The lead guitar player in the band is the son of a local doctor who's practice Lynda works in. The band does covers of a wide range of styles of music, from blues to rock. The lead singer is a mid-twenties Filipino girl who has an amazing voice. Tonight they were also joined by a young lady playing the fiddle. We learned she had starting taking classical lessons when she was three years old, and has a degree in music. We thought her parents probably were less than happy that she was now playing bars in St. Thomas, instead of with some symphony. She'll probably make more money playing bars. Once again, I was blown away by watching musicians who have not worked together forever, collaborate and sound like they had practiced together for years.
GPS N 18-19.487 W 064-51.116 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10393.
April 14
We have a plan today to go out for a day-sail on Gypsy, Clyde & Lynda's Manta 42 catamaran. Sue is going to pick us up about 11:30 and take us to Independent Boat Yard, the marina where Gypsy is docked. We're not sure about food plans, so about 10:00 we went to Molly Malone's for breakfast. The bottomless mimosas were good, as were the eggs benedict. Sue picked us up and we went to the marina. Independent boat yard is an interesting place. It is located in Benner Bay, on the south coast of St. Thomas, just a mile by car from where we are. There are four or five docks in the marina. Then there is a large mooring field in the bay outside the marina. The mooring field has about a hundred boats in it that are either abandoned or liveaboards, but none of them will ever sail again. The marina itself is probably more than 50% boats that will never feel the swell of the ocean again, although there are lots of liveaboards. It's not the kind of marina I think I would want to live in, but for Clyde & Lynda's purpose with Gypsy, it's ok and priced right.
Clyde & Lynda were already aboard Gypsy when we got there. We loaded up our donation to the provisions (beer) and were soon casting off. Gypsy is on the T-head at the end of a dock, so getting away is not hard. Interestingly, it is right across from the VIP Yacht Charter's dock where we chartered our first bareboat back in 2002. Once we were out of the marina area, we were headed straight into the chop from the strong east wind. This is another one of the downsides to this marina. The Manta is setup to do all the line handling from the helm, so Clyde raised the sails while we sat back on the "back porch swing" which is a cool seating area on Mantas that I have never seen on another catamaran. Once the sails were up, the engines were turned off. While we were off the wind enough to sail, we were bashing pretty much straight into the waves. When a monohull slams into the waves, it's bad enough, but when a catamaran does it, you have the additional excitement of the wave slamming under the deck between the hulls. We sailed about two miles to the southeast to a point where I was beginning to question why we were doing this. I would not have gone out for a voluntary day sail in these conditions on MoonSail. But, then we tacked northeast towards Christmas Cove. The ride was immediately better. Now the waves were coming from our starboard beam. This would have been even worse on a monohull, but on the cat, we just rocked from side to side as the waves passed under each hull. Once we sailed the mile to Christmas Cove, and were in the protection of Great St. James Island, the water got flat. We picked up a mooring and opened the beer. Clyde & Sue went for a snorkel and Lynda prepared some cheese, sausage and crackers, as well as some shrimp and cocktail sauce. We spent a couple hours here, listening to reggae on SiriusXM, and generally enjoying life. We saw Lady B, sail by and then come back and anchor just north of us. Lady B was in Yacht Haven Grand right behind Alternate Latitude last Monday when we visited Walter & Beverly. We are accustomed to seeing big boats like Lady B, but Sue wasn't, and even Clyde & Lynda didn't spend much time in the mega-boat islands like Antigua and St. Maarten, so they were excited to see a boat like that.
When we left Christmas Cove, we had a nice downwind sail back to Benner Bay. It was getting near dusk, and Clyde had a plan, so we quickly got Gypsy secured and headed for the cars. The plan is to go to Hull Bay, where our other local friends Floyd & Jennifer took us last week. Clyde wants to get there before dark, as the ride is nice to see during the day, and Sue hasn't seen it before. I rode with Clyde & Lynda, and Barb rode with Sue. We went via a route I had never been before, although as we got close, I recognized where we were from last weekend. The Hull Bay Hideaway has live music on Sunday, so it was much busier than last Saturday. I don't think any of us knew it, but the band playing here tonight is FlipSwitch. I guess we have become groupies of a band other than Jerry Diaz & Hanna's Reef. (Don't worry Jerry - I had one of your t-shirts on.)
Sue is flying via seaplane to St. Croix tomorrow to visit her daughter who is in the Coat Guard and just happens to be there for a few days doing an inspection. So, she offered to let us use her rental car for two days while she's gone. (Don't tell Avis.) So, when we left Hull Bay Hideaway, Barb and I went with Sue. We dropped her at her resort, Blue Beard's beach Club, which is on the south shore of St. Thomas between Charlotte Amalie and Red Hook. We'll take the car home tonight and tomorrow I'll pick her up and take her to the seaplane.
GPS N 18-19.487 W 064-51.116 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10393.
April 15
I was up at my normal early hour of about 06:30. I left the boat about 08:15 to pick Sue up and get her to the seaplane by 09:00. All went as planned and I was back at the boat about 09:30. Mike & Lynn are coming over here today on the ferry. They arrived about 13:30. Lynn brought some laundry to do at the laundromat here, so she and Barb went to attend to that, while Mike & I went across the street to get my stitches removed. That only took a few minutes, so we went to Molly Malone's and had a couple beers and visited while the ladies did the laundry. Barb is making chicken enchiladas for dinner, so after she got back to the boat she assembled them. We all went up to Island Time Pub for a couple happy hour drinks. While we were there we saw the Boston marathon bombing story unfolding. What a shock of reality in our nice little world of cruising. We returned to MoonSail to cook the enchiladas and eat dinner a little after 16:00. Of course during the cooking, our propane tank ran out, so I had to switch tanks, but that delayed the cooking since it isn't obvious you're out of gas until you realize your food isn't cooking. We ate dinner and Mike & Lynn took off just in time to catch the 18:00 ferry back to St. John and dinghy to Seabbatical before dark.
GPS N 18-19.487 W 064-51.116 Nautical miles traveled today 0 Total miles 10393.